Years ago there lived a dark and brooding knight on the Isle of Zandor. Many said his heart was as evil as his face was angelically beautiful.
He lived in a self imposed solitary confinement in a castle way up the misty mountainside with only a cat as his ever faithful companion. People said he was a wizard who dabbled in the art of enchantment and the occult with his familiar ever faithful at his heels. Whenever the people of the land had cause to cross his path, they would cross themselves superstitiously.
A crystal talisman hung from his neck, and every now and again when his eyes gleamed frenetically, the crystal glowed brightly. Whenever the skies ripped with lightning or the water covered the land from the torrential downpours he was right in the heart of it. The people believed that everything unpleasant that had ever befallen them was his hand in malice. Thus he was often referred to as the Demon Prince.
Not so far away was a young woman braving the elements in search of something far greater. The fog was so thick, Serena faltered she wasn’t sure if she could go on a moment more until she hit a stone wall. Her fingers skirted along the ridges and determined it was a brick wall. Maybe an abode of some kind she thought optimistically. Her fingers traced the ridges until she detected a wooden opening. She depressed the handle and fell in. The room was deserted yet warm with a great fire burning in the hearth. This will do, she thought, for a little while anyway. Curling up on the floor near the fire, she went to sleep.
Serena awoke with a start sensing she was not alone. She froze as something moved against her leg; it was small and furry and gave out a low growl. She closed her eyes tight willing whatever it was to go away. She forced herself to lay still. Hot breath scorched her hand; she jumped up and raced to the door. She pulled it wide open and ran slap into a very large body that filled the doorway. She screamed loudly in fright then her world blackened.
She came to lying on a huge bed in a large room with the most beautiful Old World furnishings. There! It came again that low grumble. She drew her knees up to her chin and held on.
“It’s just Oden”, said a deep voice “She enjoys scaring the daylights out of people.” She looked up toward where the voice had come from, the man was in shadows “When she is little more than a harmless kitty,” he added scratching the “kitty” behind its ear.
“Come?” His hand beckoned moving into the light, Serena looked at the man before her. He was tall and muscular broad with no ouch of spare fat in sight. He was simply “well made”. His eyes were still shadowed, so the true color not evident. Mesmerized she stepped forward; he took her hand and sank it into the luxuriant fur behind the cat’s ear. The cat purred contentedly “No one has gotten close enough to touch her like this before. What makes you so different I wonder.”
She snatched her hand back quickly, it must be evening she thought everything was in shadows and blurred.
“I will leave you to your supper” He confirmed her suspicions. “You do look quite worn out. Have an early night. I will answer all your questions that I see reflected in your eyes come morning. Have a good night” She didn’t have any questions that she needed answers to, she just wanted to leave this place. Once she had had a good night’s rest…first. I wonder what the colour of his eyes would be, she mused.
Before Serena knew it, fingers of light were slowing crawling towards the bed refreshing the whole room with its earthy warmth. She stretched her muscles feeling invigorated.
A presence moved near the window. The man from the previous night moved into her line of vision. The cat - want for a better term - was still splayed where it was the previous night, as if it never left.
“Oden had been guarding you the whole night” Once again giving answers to her unspoken questions. “She is simply fascinated by you. Probably because she has never seen another human up close. And a woman at that.” The way he said “woman’ brought goosebumps along her arms. The big tabby sat, Serena could see her clearly now in the light of day. Kitty! She looked like a fully grown leopard. Burnished brown with a lighter shade spotted in between like a leopard’s too. Her ruby red eyes with the streaky gold looked on knowingly, assessing.
Though Serena was naturally an animal lover, she was afraid to approach it.
“What kind of cat, is she?” she ventured tentatively
“A bobbin” he said “she is a half breed a cross between cheetah and domestic. And she prefers to be the only female in my life” He finished with mild laughter taking her aback even more. Mmmmm…funny guy.
Oden bared her teeth to prove his point, “She won’t bother you again” was all he said.
He brought in a tray of food. The delicious aromas wafted up from the tray as he set it down on a low table. Serena dug in immediately she was famished. She followed the tall stranger as he moved around the room. He was fairly tall, his long shaggy hair coming to rest on his shoulders. As if sensing her eyes on him, he turned piercing her with the eyes of coolest blue that could be mistaken for silver. He looked every inch the rumors she was told about she shifted uncomfortably beneath his gaze. He looked daunting. Regal. Was that humor around his mouth, or tension?
“Ah…so you have finally realized who I am. People think I am unaware of the names I am being labeled. What is it now? The Demon Prince? Ha!” He lifted his eyebrow inquiringly. She flushed diverting her eyes to her food.
“Why are you here?” he asked gently.
“I needed shelter from the storm”.
“Why are you here?” he demanded again.
“I told you. I was passing through. I needed shelter,” she said sharply.
He grunted, as if accepting her words.
“I thank you for your generosity but I must be on my way.” She reached for her shoes donning them. Lucien’s lips lifted in an amused smile, it had been a long time since he had met such a feisty character. Most of the people were too afraid to confront him for various reasons and none of them plausible. It was refreshing. It made him feel alive. And he didn’t want to let her out of his sight just yet. She felt like she was playing cat and mouse, and she was the very delectable mouse. Was he toying with her.
“Wait! Why must you leave so soon?” He wanted to know.
“I have a long way to go before I reach my destination. I need to cover as much distance as I can before nightfall.”
“It is much too dangerous for a woman alone out there,” he said authoritatively,
“Yet I must go forth,” she countered.
“No.” he pounced.
“What do you mean no? You can’t mean to keep me here? I have precious little time left to get to the end of the forest.”
“Not only is it foolish to pursue this course. But there is nothing on the other side of the forest but vast open plains. Nothing lives or grows there.”
“That’s impossible. Surely you jest” she parried.
“I never – Lady, I have been there many times. If I say nothing grows there. My word is good.”
“Oh God No!” she muffled against her tight fist as she collapsed on a heap on the floor, the tears that threatened, spilled over in abandonment. “It was all for naught. The end will come swiftly now. It is only a matter of time.”
“What do you speak of, woman?”
“It’s no use. It makes no difference anymore,” she softly ejected
Rough hands reached out and pulled her close until her sobs subsided, then held her away. “Will you tell me now?” he prompted
She nodded slowly; her pain was palpable as she related the events that brought her here.
“I need to seek the edge of the forest because of a flower. A flower not found anywhere else. It has reddish black leaves and blooms once a year with small white flowers.”
“Why do you need such a flower?”
“It provides healing properties once the flowers are harvested.”
“Are you a healer?”
“No” she put in “no. I am just a simple woman who spins wool from my father’s sheep into yarn to make warm clothes for winter. I have someone at home who is very ill with the Midas Touch.”
“The Midas Touch?”
“It is the yellow fever that draws the blood from the body leaving the body, a husk. People are dying with this disease. It takes but a few weeks to run it’s course and the people are gone” she said desolately
“How is it that you have not contracted it?” He looked searchingly into her eyes.
“I do not know.” She said shaking her head for emphasis “This is why I was sent. The attending healer had run out of her usual supply, there was too great a number of people falling ill.”
“Is it your father, Serena?”
“Yes. But how… ”
“How did I know? I am the Demon Prince remember?”
She staggered back a pace, she had forgotten. “Your father doesn’t have the Midas Touch. But an illness of the heart.”
As he was talking he sketched a circle in the air. The mist cleared and Serena could see her father prancing around the yard of their house, he was calling for her in an excited voice. His eyes were alive with mischief and love. Then the vision dissipated.
“But my father is lying on his death bed” she insisted
“No Serena! He is alive and well. There was a loss in your house a year ago.”
“My Mother,” she said barely above a whisper.
“Your father was disheartened and withdrew into himself, he was in the deepest darkest despair and he was helpless to help himself.”
“He loved my mother very much”
“I gathered that.”
“I don’t know what to do anymore.” She fell backwards onto the bed “I am at a loss.”
“Come. I will show you what to do.” Nudging her off the bed Lucien steered her into the garden.
What she saw stunned her. There were hundreds of white flowers everywhere covering trees and barks and arbors. They all had one thing in common. Long reddish black stalks.
“These are known as argosis nepharelia. Yes, they do bloom once a year. In addition to curing the Midas touch, they clear the mind of bad antibodies that cloud a man’s perception from reality.” He said as he began to pluck the white flowers and place them in a basket at his feet. Serena was trying to understand what he was saying, but failed. All she knew was he said that the flowers will help cure her father. “The leaves of this plant are especially beneficial. You need to crush them and make a hot tea. The taste can sometimes be sharp – douse it with some sugar. And get your father to drink it.”
“Tea?” she said more confused than ever “You want me to give him tea?”
“Of course that will be the best for him” He looked up from his gathering to see her confusion. “I will come with you to administer it?” She nodded her agreement, when he smiled at her.
“Who are you?”
“I am just a man who knows too much” he remarked flippantly.
“No! Really? Why did you help my father?” she asked earnestly
“Ah!” He said shaking a finger under her nose “The rumors, are they true?”
“Rumors be damned. I can understand now how they can be bandied about.”
“Don’t give me more credit than I deserve. I will help whom I choose.” He walked away Serena was stung by his abrupt manner. Obviously the rumors about the Demon Prince were greatly exaggerated. The fear that was rising in her at their first encounter slowly transformed to respect and admiration.
“I ask only one thing.” His voice clearly resounded in the companionable silence as they worked.
“What is it?”
“That I have one night with you.” The feelings of insecurity returned, he was the devil indeed.
“For my father – Anything,” she bravely injected.
“Come then…we must hurry.” She flew to his side; he held on to her and chanted a few words. She gripped the basket tightly as a whirlwind lifted up and whipped at her hair and skirts. The talisman on his chest was glowing and throbbing, arcs of light darted out and around them gathering into shimmering dust that swirled about them like a million fireflies until they were outside her father’s house.
She opened the door and went in; her father still lay where she had left him looking frail and listless. She placed a pot of water over the still burning fire. When she heard the gurgle of the water and the hissing steam of the pot lid, she added the crushed leaves to the pot as the stranger had indicated.
He was in her father’s room, stuffing more pillows under his head he crossed over to the windows and flung them wide open to let the light reach the darkest corners. He moved around the room muttering something in a language she didn’t understand. He stopped when he heard a step behind him. She brought the cooled tea on the tray, and held it while he stirred in the sugar. “Thank you, Serena. You made it exactly like I would” he said encouragingly. He went over to the bed and sat down beside her father; held onto the back of his head and forced the liquid between his lips. Her father gagged, his eyes now open. He was fighting the stranger trying to tilt the contents of the cup onto the floor but the stranger’s strength held him in check.
Fleetingly, Serena feared for his health. She had allowed a perfect stranger into their home and to administer god knows what to her father her only kin in this world. She was afraid that this might not work. It could make her father worst. What had she done!
As if sensing her turbulent and uncertain emotions, he smiled to reassure her, and handed her the empty cup.
“Give him a few hours. He should be fine” he said in a low voice.
He walked her out to the yard to show him around. She grew apprehensive about leaving her father alone.
“Have you lived here long?” he asked trying to divert her thoughts.
“Yes all my life. What about you?”
“Me?”
“How do you know so much about healing?”
“I come from a long line of druids” he finally said.
“Druids! As in Wizards?”
“Not really.” He was looking at her as if he expected her to run away and shut the door on his face. “Druids are mostly healers and are deeply religious people. I am a half-breed. Born of a druid and a witch we are called “the other ones”. We can heal, perform sorcery and look into the future.” Lucien didn’t know why he was revealing so much, but he instinctively felt that he could trust her. He also felt that their futures are tied somehow. “But we cannot predict our own futures,” he said as an after thought.
“I am the fortunate few.”
“Why is that?”
“Many who are born out of such unions are born with adverse effects.”
“Adverse effects? What does that mean?”
“It simply means that they are born with defects. Many loose their minds and perish because there was no healthy balance between the parents” he tried to explain
“Then you are indeed fortunate,” she reiterated.
“When we are mated, there is one other thing that we “others” can give to our mates.”
He looked at her longingly
“And that is….?” She lifted her head and stared ahead.
“The gift of youth and longevity” he finished.
“What! You have the secret of being forever young?” She laughed spontaneously “Every woman’s’ dream? Surely you jest? How is that possible?”
“I do not jest, my lady?”
“Clearly…” she murmured
“I – “he looked shocked but continued “I will leave that for another time.”
Her father, standing at the door of the house, interrupted them. “Father?” She turned in his direction. His eyes looked lucid and clear, a tiny smiled kicked up the corner of his lips. His eyes were filling with tears…of joy “My baby girl,” he sighed and opened his arms wide as she flew into them.
‘I am so sorry my child. Can you ever forgive me?” he whispered into her hair “So sorry for leaving you alone to face the world. I was so lost…”
“Shhhh! I know father. I miss her too.”
“You look so like her, daughter” He held her face in her hand “I will not leave you again – “
“Father? It was not I who cured you but the goodness of this wonderful man.” She held out her hand toward the young man who came forward.
“Then I have much to thank you for young man” Her father enfolded him an affectionate hug. “My home is your home, son.” Lucien flushed uncomfortably at the display of affection. “I am going to get us some mead to toast to our good health. Please come in children!” He looked from one to the other, and said as a after thought “Whenever you are ready.”
He scuttled away in a spry and robust manner.
They looked at each other and burst into laughter “The old reprobate!”
“I like your father” he said
She replied with, “me too.”
“Serena?” he started, ‘I will not hold you to that promise.’
She looked up then, searching his face. She knew what he meant by that. “It was just a way of seeing you again.”
“Why didn’t you just ask instead?” she admonished
“I was afraid you might say “No!”” he counteracted
“There was that chance,” she admitted. “I was too afraid of you because of the rumors.”
“And now?” He leaned forward in expectation and she shyly nodded.
“See! It is always good for things to come to their natural conclusion…don’t you think?” he whispered near her ears. She blushed prettily but didn’t say anything.
“Serena do you understand now how “the others” gift their mates with youth and longevity?” He winked suggestively. She blushed harder, finally getting his meaning.
“I wish one more thing from you.”
“Granted!” he said as if waving a magic wand.
“Who might my savior be?”
He hesitated for but one moment, uncertainty and vulnerability warring across his face. “Lucien.” he said, a smile lighting up his eyes.
“Lucien.” She breathed softly, “It suits you” Serena kissed him on the cheek and thanked him. “As my father said you are most welcome here.” She shyly looked up at him, a fervent interest burgeoning in the depths of her eyes.
The End.
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